Journal Weds 7th Jan 2026

Afternoon all, and a very Happy New Year to you! What have you been up to, please do tell?

We’ve had the quietest Xmas in years, and I am not mad at it. Lovely to have nowhere to be and nothing much to do. We spent Xmas eve at my lovely in-laws for a most excellent roast pork dinner and obligatory xmas trifle.

Let’s face it, any other meat is superior to turkey, and the left-overs paired with bubble and squeak on Xmas day, the two of us in our pyjamas, quick video chat with big sis, smattering of texts with friends and wider family, was delightful. Lots of dog walks, lit fires, After Eight mints and the odd glass of champagne from “our champagne guy”, that we buy from the oyster fete every year – nice. We also actually left the house on New Years Eve for the first time since records began, courtesy of a very kind invitation from some friends in the village. Still amazes me after 7 years, how many Brits there are in the village that we don’t know. I think we are down to 160 residents but we are scattered over quite a large area so I guess our paths don’t often cross.

We’re in the throws of various rounds of village meetings at the moment, lots of discussion about what we can do to foster our little community, church renovations, what to do with the school building now it’s closed etc. We had one white paper exercise just before xmas, and I’ve just got the minutes to decipher before our next meeting on Friday night. It’s nice to be included to be honest, and we’re all for helping out where we can. I’ll let you know what comes of it.

As I’m writing this today, it’s blowing a blizzard. The snow that brought so much disruption to Northern France yesterday is now doing it’s thing outside. There is nothing I like better than chores done, lit fire, twinkly lights, snow hurling itself down. Absolute bliss. We had a snowy walk at lunchtime with Freya, who I think loves the snow but hates being wet in equal measure. I’ve had a lovely hot shower and made myself a hot drink, hugely into chicory at the moment (- IYKYN). Menopause and all that horse shit can render sleeping impossible, so I wanted something with no caffeine that still gave me coffee vibes, but decaf instant is bleugh. We have a whole bean coffee machine and the hubs cannot be persuaded to foray into decaf beans, plus I do kinda want a proper coffee first thing, so this is my alternative. I do also love Ricore, which is the French branded coffee with chicory, but haven’t managed to find the caffeine free version in our supermarket yet, so I’m on Carrefour’s own. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans famous Cafe du Monde for Cafe au Lait and beignets, that’s what you will have had, coffee with chicory. There something really comforting and nostalgic about the flavour for me. Perhaps it harks back to a post war era bottle of Camp’s coffee essence on my Mum’s pantry shelf. Theres a kind of burnt sugar, caramel flavour in there. I don’t know, I just like it. Also chicory seems to be present as an ingredient in a lot of meno supplements, so I thought why not, it’s not going to do me any harm is it?

Craig is working from home this week, but he should be in London. His flight from Limoges was cancelled on Monday due to the temperatures on the runway. We’ve been having regular -8 degree overnight temperatures here which is the coldest we’ve known it since we moved. In true Ryanair fashion, he found this out just as he was pulling into the carpark at the Airport. The airport staff said they were doing their best to put on a coach to take passengers to Nantes airport for an 8pm flight that evening. That’s a 4 hour drive in a car for info. Craig’s spidey senses did not like the sound of this, and had little faith in the bus or the flight departing. After much discussion and the bus not appearing “in 10 minutes” he decided to contact his boss, who was fine with him dialling into his Tuesday meeting directly and he came home. Of course the day progressed and keeping an eye on the flight status and having regular pings from Ryanair, the flight was delayed again, but this time overnight. Initial e-mail from Ryanair saying they were working to provide accommodation. Then, sorry, due to adverse weather in Nantes, hotels are full so basically you’re on your own. But here are 4 x 4euro food vouchers. Then, revised flight times for yesterday, then it was delayed, then cancelled again to today, meaning another overnight stay in Nantes, where there are no hotels and blizzard conditions. As of now, we’re still unclear what has happened to the flight because the app has stopped updating it. Not even sure Nantes airport is 24 hour operational, those poor people stranded in a snow storm. Never has he been happier to have not got on a bus! But thanks Ryanair for the first compensation of 2026!. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

TTFN,

V x